Watch now: The first Eurovision Song Contest semi-final

The first semi-final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest will take place tonight in the Malmö Arena. The show starts at 21:00 CET and will feature 16 countries fighting for 10 places in the final.

The show

There will be 16 songs performed tonight. After the songs have been performed the viewers can vote for their favourite by telephone, SMS (not available in all countries) and the new Eurovision Song Contest mobile app.

The televotes will be all added together and ranked from 1 to 16 by the organisers of the televote in for each country. There is a limit of 20 votes by phone number.

There are also professional juries in each of the countries voting in the first semi-final. They will also rank all the songs from 1 to 16, based on the dress rehearsal they watched last night.

The rankings from the jury and public votes will then be combined, 50% each, and the top ten countries will be converted into points from 1 to 12 points, omitting 9 and 11 like Eurovision tradition demands.

Apart from the participating countries also direct qualifiers Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final.

The show will be hosted by Petra Mede.

Participants

Austria: Natália Kelly – Shine

Estonia: Birgit – Et uus saaks alguse

Slovenia: Hannah – Straight into love

Croatia: Klapa s Mora – Mižerja

Denmark: Emmelie de Forest – Only teardrops

Russia: Dina Garipova – What if

Ukraine: Zlata Ognevich – Gravity

The Netherlands: Anouk – Birds

Montenegro: Who See – Igranka

Lithuania: Andrius Pojavis – Something

Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya – Solayoh

Moldova: Aliona Moon – O mie

Ireland: Ryan Dolan – Only love survives

Cyprus: Despina Olympiou – An me thymase

Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa – Love kills

Serbia: Moje 3 – Ljubav je svuda

The opening and the interval acts

The first semi-final will be opened by last year’s Eurovision Song Contest winner Loreen with a special version of Euphoria, performed with children from Malmö schools.

The interval act is a homage to Aurora Borealis, or the Northern lights. The number Norrsken is choreographed by Fredrik “Benke” Rydman and Jennie Widegren and features some of the best dancers in Europe. The music is written by Andreas Kleerup.

There is also a comedy insert with the fictional EBU (European Broadcasting Union) official Lynda Woodruff, played by Sarah Dawn Finer.

How to watch

The first semi-final will be broadcast live by all participating and voting broadcasters, check local details for channels.

It will also be broadcast in Portugal, Bosnia & Herzegovina and delayed in Australia and China.